A Symphonic Psalm, after a drama by René MoraxMusic by

Arthur Honegger (1892-1955)

Please silence all cellular phones and other electronic devices

King David PART I

1. Introduction (Orchestra & Narrator)

2. The song of David, the shepherd: God shall be my shepherd kind.

3. Psalm: All praise to him, the Lord of glory, the everlasting God my helper.

4. Fanfare and entry of Goliath

5. Song of victory: David is great, the Philistines overthrown. Chosen of God is he.

6. Psalm: In the Lord I put my faith, I put my trust.

7. Psalm: O had I wings like a dove, then I would fly away and be at rest.

8. Song of the prophets: Man that is born of a woman lives but a little while.

9. Psalm: Pity me Lord, for I am weak.

10. Saul’s camp

11. Psalm: God, the Lord shall be my light and my salvation. What cause have I to fear?

12. Incantation of the Witch of Endor

13. March of the Philistines

14. The lament of Gilboa: Ah! Weep for Saul.1

ELLIOT JONESMUSIC DIRECTOR

PART II

15. Song of the daughters of Israel: Sister, oh sing thy song! Never has God forsaken us.

16. The dance before the ark: Mighty God be with us, O splendor of the morn.

INTERMISSION

PART III

17. Song: Now my voice in song up-soaring shall loud proclaim my king afar.

18. Song of the handmaid, Bathsheba: O my love, take my hand, let us wander the vale.

19. Psalm of penitence: Pity me God, in my distress! Turn not away, but heal me again!

20. Psalm: Behold in evil I was born, and in iniquity conceived.

21. Psalm: O shall I raise mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence cometh my help?

22. The song of Ephraim: O thou forest of grief, where ravens seek their prey.

23. March of the Hebrews

24. Psalm: Thee will I love o Lord who art my fortress, thou art my shield and my salvation.

25. Psalm: In my distress then I cried to my God. Sorrows of Hell did so compass me round.

26. The crowning of Solomon

27. The death of David: And God said: the day shall dawn to bring a flower newly born.

SOLOISTS

(in order of appearance)

Grayson Hirst, narrator

Austin Troike, treble (David as a shepherd boy)

Matthew Holter, tenor (David)

Erika Burkhart, soprano

Betty Sproul, voice of the Witch of Endor

Emily Lyons, mezzo soprano

Angela Merley, mezzo soprano (Bathsheba)

THE ARIZONA REPERTORY SINGERS

2

ORCHESTRA

FLUTE and PICCOLO CELLO

Alexander Lipay, Paula Redinger Anne Gratz

OBOE and ENGLISH HORN BASS

Marquise Demaree Dylan DeRobertis

CLARINET and BASS CLARINET CELESTA

Daniel Becker, John De La Paz Russell Ronebaum

BASSOON PIANO

Daniel Hursey Juliana Osinchuk

TRUMPET ORGAN

Betsy Bright, Hayato Tanaka Gregg Reynolds

FRENCH HORN TIMPANI & PERCUSSION

Michael Mesner Homero Ceron

TROMBONE PERCUSSION

Salvador Lopez Chris Herman

Elliot Jones, conductor

3

PART II

15. Song of the daughters of Israel: Sister, oh sing thy song! Never has God forsaken us.

16. The dance before the ark: Mighty God be with us, O splendor of the morn.

INTERMISSION

PART III

17. Song: Now my voice in song up-soaring shall loud proclaim my king afar.

18. Song of the handmaid, Bathsheba: O my love, take my hand, let us wander the vale.

19. Psalm of penitence: Pity me God, in my distress! Turn not away, but heal me again!

20. Psalm: Behold in evil I was born, and in iniquity conceived.

21. Psalm: O shall I raise mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence cometh my help?

22. The song of Ephraim: O thou forest of grief, where ravens seek their prey.

23. March of the Hebrews

24. Psalm: Thee will I love o Lord who art my fortress, thou art my shield and my salvation.

25. Psalm: In my distress then I cried to my God. Sorrows of Hell did so compass me round.

26. The crowning of Solomon

27. The death of David: And God said: the day shall dawn to bring a flower newly born.

SOLOISTS

(in order of appearance)

Grayson Hirst, narrator

Austin Troike, treble (David as a shepherd boy)

Matthew Holter, tenor (David)

Erika Burkhart, soprano

Betty Sproul, voice of the Witch of Endor

Emily Lyons, mezzo soprano

Angela Merley, mezzo soprano (Bathsheba)

THE ARIZONA REPERTORY SINGERS

2

ORCHESTRA

FLUTE and PICCOLO CELLO

Alexander Lipay, Paula Redinger Anne Gratz

OBOE and ENGLISH HORN BASS

Marquise Demaree Dylan DeRobertis

CLARINET and BASS CLARINET CELESTA

Daniel Becker, John De La Paz Russell Ronebaum

BASSOON PIANO

Daniel Hursey Juliana Osinchuk

TRUMPET ORGAN

Betsy Bright, Hayato Tanaka Gregg Reynolds

FRENCH HORN TIMPANI & PERCUSSION

Michael Mesner Homero Ceron

TROMBONE PERCUSSION

Salvador Lopez Chris Herman

Elliot Jones, conductor

3

Program Notes

(Drawn in part from Arthur Honegger, un musicien dans la cité des hommes by Harry Halbreich)

The poet and playwright René Morax founded his Théâtre du Jorat near Mézières,

Switzerland in 1903. Made entirely of wood so as to be integrated into the barns of the

surrounding countryside, it was described this way in an early account:

“A theater decidedly unlike any other. A sort of vast chalet, a kind of huge barn,

smelling of resin, dried hay, fresh fruit, and on days when there was a performance,

Sunday clothes, but retaining the rustic dignity of a shrine. A large stage

descending in broad steps toward the orchestra pit …”

[See a photo of the Théâtre du Jorat today at the end of the Program Notes]

The theater was closed for several years during the Great War, and Morax conceived

a drama on the subject of King David to reopen it in 1921. When he turned to his

wealthy friend Werner Reinhart (who, incidentally, had recently funded the creation

of Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale) telling him that he was taking inspiration from Hindu

theater for this work, his patron offered to lend rare Hindu drums, in addition to

financial assistance. The text is drawn from the Hebrew Bible (I and II Samuel, I Kings),

in addition to the Huguenot Psalter, which includes poetry by Clément Marot. The

poet’s brother Jean Morax set to work designing costumes and sets. After several more

established composers turned him down, René, on the advice of Stravinsky and the

distinguished conductor Ernest Ansermet, chose the then unknown, twenty-eight year

old Arthur Honegger.

With the première scheduled for June, time was short and Honegger was faced with

several challenges. He had to compose twenty-seven movements to fit into Morax’s script

in just a matter of weeks. He resolved to start with the movements for chorus so that

the 100 voice ensemble could begin to rehearse them. But the instrumental resources

available at the theater were an unusual hodge-podge of only sixteen instrumentalists:

mostly wind players, percussion, and three keyboards - harmonium, piano, and

celesta. (Interestingly, there is a contemporary parallel to this - Broadway shows that

use several synthesizers, often in an ensemble of the exact same size, with no upper

strings.) Stravinsky tried to reassure Honegger by saying “It’s very simple … Go ahead

as if you had chosen this ensemble and compose for a hundred singers and sixteen

instrumentalists.” Honegger was still fearful enough to beg Morax (successfully) for a

second flute, offered to come to Mézières to deliver the orchestra parts, and “if there’s no

one to play the bass drum, I’ll do it myself!”

In the very first moments of the work, we hear the percussion and oboe (playing a

Middle-Eastern scale) set the scene: Israel 3,000 years ago. The shepherd boy David

sings a simple diatonic melody that stands in contrast to its chromatic and sometimes

dissonant accompaniment. No. 3, which is based on the chorale preludes of Bach, and

even quotes his “Wachet auf” at one point, uses the words of Clément Marot. A bi-tonal

fanfare is followed by a trombone solo representing Goliath. In the “Song of Victory,”

which frames a march that goes beyond bi-tonal to quadri-tonal (it’s in four keys!), the

choir sings the words that compare Saul’s thousands to David’s ten-thousands. This

makes Saul furious, and in No. 6 for the adult David, the whistling of the spear he hurls

at David is depicted by a piccolo solo. In No. 7 we hear the soprano soloist for the first

time in music that recalls Fauré in its harmony and sicilienne rhythm.

A change of scene brings about a new sonority – tenors and basses as wise men

prophesying sing in a style resembling organum from 1,000 years ago. David returns in

No. 9 and the English horn sets up the bitterness of his plea in the Phrygian mode. But

when his prayer is answered, the style switches to a Bachian Allegro reminiscent of No. 3.

The following psalm (No. 11) is in the same two-part form: cloudy, hushed Debussyian

harmonies are followed by jubilant music in D major, a key traditionally associated with

triumphant music with trumpets, and the movement ends with the vocabulary of jazz

added to the influence of Bach.

Honegger sets the “Incantation of the Witch of Endor” in an atonal harmonic language

with a gradual, inevitable accelerando and crescendo, and the march that follows it is

deliberately vulgar to represent the Philistines’ lack of respect for beauty and art. In No.

14, the lament theme sounds like a Jewish cantillation, and will be developed in No. 16

and the finale as the “Alleluia” theme.

Part II begins with the Song of the Daughters of Israel, which is similar to popular

dance songs heard in Israel today. But the remainder of this section is the central chorus

“The Dance before the Ark” in which the choristers portray shepherds, harvesters, wine

4 5

Program Notes

(Drawn in part from Arthur Honegger, un musicien dans la cité des hommes by Harry Halbreich)

The poet and playwright René Morax founded his Théâtre du Jorat near Mézières,

Switzerland in 1903. Made entirely of wood so as to be integrated into the barns of the

surrounding countryside, it was described this way in an early account:

“A theater decidedly unlike any other. A sort of vast chalet, a kind of huge barn,

smelling of resin, dried hay, fresh fruit, and on days when there was a performance,

Sunday clothes, but retaining the rustic dignity of a shrine. A large stage

descending in broad steps toward the orchestra pit …”

[See a photo of the Théâtre du Jorat today at the end of the Program Notes]

The theater was closed for several years during the Great War, and Morax conceived

a drama on the subject of King David to reopen it in 1921. When he turned to his

wealthy friend Werner Reinhart (who, incidentally, had recently funded the creation

of Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale) telling him that he was taking inspiration from Hindu

theater for this work, his patron offered to lend rare Hindu drums, in addition to

financial assistance. The text is drawn from the Hebrew Bible (I and II Samuel, I Kings),

in addition to the Huguenot Psalter, which includes poetry by Clément Marot. The

poet’s brother Jean Morax set to work designing costumes and sets. After several more

established composers turned him down, René, on the advice of Stravinsky and the

distinguished conductor Ernest Ansermet, chose the then unknown, twenty-eight year

old Arthur Honegger.

With the première scheduled for June, time was short and Honegger was faced with

several challenges. He had to compose twenty-seven movements to fit into Morax’s script

in just a matter of weeks. He resolved to start with the movements for chorus so that

the 100 voice ensemble could begin to rehearse them. But the instrumental resources

available at the theater were an unusual hodge-podge of only sixteen instrumentalists:

mostly wind players, percussion, and three keyboards - harmonium, piano, and

celesta. (Interestingly, there is a contemporary parallel to this - Broadway shows that

use several synthesizers, often in an ensemble of the exact same size, with no upper

strings.) Stravinsky tried to reassure Honegger by saying “It’s very simple … Go ahead

as if you had chosen this ensemble and compose for a hundred singers and sixteen

instrumentalists.” Honegger was still fearful enough to beg Morax (successfully) for a

second flute, offered to come to Mézières to deliver the orchestra parts, and “if there’s no

one to play the bass drum, I’ll do it myself!”

In the very first moments of the work, we hear the percussion and oboe (playing a

Middle-Eastern scale) set the scene: Israel 3,000 years ago. The shepherd boy David

sings a simple diatonic melody that stands in contrast to its chromatic and sometimes

dissonant accompaniment. No. 3, which is based on the chorale preludes of Bach, and

even quotes his “Wachet auf” at one point, uses the words of Clément Marot. A bi-tonal

fanfare is followed by a trombone solo representing Goliath. In the “Song of Victory,”

which frames a march that goes beyond bi-tonal to quadri-tonal (it’s in four keys!), the

choir sings the words that compare Saul’s thousands to David’s ten-thousands. This

makes Saul furious, and in No. 6 for the adult David, the whistling of the spear he hurls

at David is depicted by a piccolo solo. In No. 7 we hear the soprano soloist for the first

time in music that recalls Fauré in its harmony and sicilienne rhythm.

A change of scene brings about a new sonority – tenors and basses as wise men

prophesying sing in a style resembling organum from 1,000 years ago. David returns in

No. 9 and the English horn sets up the bitterness of his plea in the Phrygian mode. But

when his prayer is answered, the style switches to a Bachian Allegro reminiscent of No. 3.

The following psalm (No. 11) is in the same two-part form: cloudy, hushed Debussyian

harmonies are followed by jubilant music in D major, a key traditionally associated with

triumphant music with trumpets, and the movement ends with the vocabulary of jazz

added to the influence of Bach.

Honegger sets the “Incantation of the Witch of Endor” in an atonal harmonic language

with a gradual, inevitable accelerando and crescendo, and the march that follows it is

deliberately vulgar to represent the Philistines’ lack of respect for beauty and art. In No.

14, the lament theme sounds like a Jewish cantillation, and will be developed in No. 16

and the finale as the “Alleluia” theme.

Part II begins with the Song of the Daughters of Israel, which is similar to popular

dance songs heard in Israel today. But the remainder of this section is the central chorus

“The Dance before the Ark” in which the choristers portray shepherds, harvesters, wine

4 5

growers, priests, warriors and dancers. During this, the longest movement of the entire

work at around twelve minutes, the excitement slowly intensifies into a rapturous ecstasy,

which is then interrupted by the celesta (the first time we’ve heard this instrument) setting

up the “Alleluia” that is a development of the theme of lament from No. 14.

Part III opens with one of several unison choruses, followed by an aria for Bathsheba.

With words inspired by the Song of Songs, voice and French horn intertwine in a voluptuous

melody. David is punished by God and the chorus sings a “Psalm of penitence” in his voice

that is in 12/8 meter against 6/4 quarter notes played by the orchestra. At the opening of

No. 20, the trumpet quotes a melody from Psalm 51 in the Huguenot Psalter. David’s voice

unites with the chorus in an outcry of deep despair. We hear his voice for the last time

in No. 21, a paraphrase of Psalm 121. “Thee will I love O Lord” provides a much needed,

soothing respite with words by Marot and music clearly influenced by Fauré, interrupted

briefly with dissonance at the words “When waves of death encompassed me and snares

of men made me afraid.” Honegger appropriately chooses a dramatic recitative style and

atonal music for the entirety of No. 25. As David looks out over the city for the last time,

a touching trumpet solo signals his death. The music builds as the people hail their new

king, and the finale begins. Here Morax introduces a New Testament element into the

story, typology that foreshadows the birth of Jesus Christ. To reflect this in the music,

Honegger provides a theme strikingly similar to two famous Lutheran chorales: How

brightly shines the morning star and Sleepers wake. This he develops and combines with the

Alleluia theme, and the music builds ecstatically by modulating up one step at a time. It

comes to rest on the tonic triad, D major, but with a jazzy twist.

The choral singers who gave the première performance were at first somewhat baffled

by Honegger’s music, but soon showed enthusiasm. One said: “To begin with, we didn’t

understand the music, but now we like it more every time we sing it.” At the première,

actors representing all of the characters spoke the dialogue, and the work was staged,

including choreographed dancing. But the dress rehearsal was nearly a disaster, and

lasted nearly ten hours. A chariot drawn by live horses was a source of fear for the players

in the orchestra pit. A running time of four hours necessitated that much of the spoken

dialogue (though none of Honegger’s music) be cut and the roles for the actors be replaced

by a narrator in a subsequent production in 1923. But the performance was a triumph,

creating an immediate buzz that made the career of Arthur Honegger, soon to be

nicknamed “King Arthur.”

An image from the 1921 première of Le Roi David showing singers in costume

The Théâtre du Jorat today

ARS would like to acknowledge the following Donors for their generous contributions

toward Orchestra Sponsorship of the King David performance at Temple Emanu-El on

April 29, 2018:

Audrey Brooks and Dick Lauwasser

Bonnie and Norm Golden

Janet Tolman

6 7

growers, priests, warriors and dancers. During this, the longest movement of the entire

work at around twelve minutes, the excitement slowly intensifies into a rapturous ecstasy,

which is then interrupted by the celesta (the first time we’ve heard this instrument) setting

up the “Alleluia” that is a development of the theme of lament from No. 14.

Part III opens with one of several unison choruses, followed by an aria for Bathsheba.

With words inspired by the Song of Songs, voice and French horn intertwine in a voluptuous

melody. David is punished by God and the chorus sings a “Psalm of penitence” in his voice

that is in 12/8 meter against 6/4 quarter notes played by the orchestra. At the opening of

No. 20, the trumpet quotes a melody from Psalm 51 in the Huguenot Psalter. David’s voice

unites with the chorus in an outcry of deep despair. We hear his voice for the last time

in No. 21, a paraphrase of Psalm 121. “Thee will I love O Lord” provides a much needed,

soothing respite with words by Marot and music clearly influenced by Fauré, interrupted

briefly with dissonance at the words “When waves of death encompassed me and snares

of men made me afraid.” Honegger appropriately chooses a dramatic recitative style and

atonal music for the entirety of No. 25. As David looks out over the city for the last time,

a touching trumpet solo signals his death. The music builds as the people hail their new

king, and the finale begins. Here Morax introduces a New Testament element into the

story, typology that foreshadows the birth of Jesus Christ. To reflect this in the music,

Honegger provides a theme strikingly similar to two famous Lutheran chorales: How

brightly shines the morning star and Sleepers wake. This he develops and combines with the

Alleluia theme, and the music builds ecstatically by modulating up one step at a time. It

comes to rest on the tonic triad, D major, but with a jazzy twist.

The choral singers who gave the première performance were at first somewhat baffled

by Honegger’s music, but soon showed enthusiasm. One said: “To begin with, we didn’t

understand the music, but now we like it more every time we sing it.” At the première,

actors representing all of the characters spoke the dialogue, and the work was staged,

including choreographed dancing. But the dress rehearsal was nearly a disaster, and

lasted nearly ten hours. A chariot drawn by live horses was a source of fear for the players

in the orchestra pit. A running time of four hours necessitated that much of the spoken

dialogue (though none of Honegger’s music) be cut and the roles for the actors be replaced

by a narrator in a subsequent production in 1923. But the performance was a triumph,

creating an immediate buzz that made the career of Arthur Honegger, soon to be

nicknamed “King Arthur.”

An image from the 1921 première of Le Roi David showing singers in costume

The Théâtre du Jorat today

ARS would like to acknowledge the following Donors for their generous contributions

toward Orchestra Sponsorship of the King David performance at Temple Emanu-El on

April 29, 2018:

Audrey Brooks and Dick Lauwasser

Bonnie and Norm Golden

Janet Tolman

6 7

For general information about ARS, go to www.arsingers.org

Arizona Repertory Singers P.O. Box 41601 Tucson, Arizona 85717 520.792.8141

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